The Joy of Baking
by Earth Star
Summary: Ahiru attempts to bake a cake, Fakir doesn't believe this is a good combination.  Ahiru/Fakir


Disclaimer: I don't own this series or any of these characters and I don't wish to make a profit from this story.

**The Joy of Baking**

A list of descriptive words instantly popped into Fakir's head as he gazed upon the scene before him. Disaster. War zone. The aftermath of a flour bomb. The description that proved to be most accurate was mess.

The kitchen floor was covered in assorted ingredients of white. Flour, sugar, salt and any other edible elements connected with the colour white covered the floor. Broken egg shells and yolks lay near the kitchen sink. A dozen dough covered wooden spoons were divided between the table and the counter.

Fakir believed that a tornado or a hurricane had blown blew in. Its name was Ahiru. The girl did not even register Fakir's presence as he approached her. She muttered to herself and furiously stirred the bowl.

Fakir waited for her to notice him. When it appeared that the girl would not be turning around anytime soon, he cleared his throat. "What are you doing?"

Ahiru jumped with the mixture in the bowl slopping over the sides as she did so. "Fakir! Don't scare me like that!"

"You should be more concerned about giving the school cooks all heart attacks when they see this mess."

Ahiru blushed. "I am going to clean this up!"

Fakir's shoe stepped into the puddle of dough. He twitched. _These were brand new too._ "What are you trying to do?" _There had better be a legitimate reason for this mess._

Ahiru puffed her cheeks as she added brown sugar to her bowl. "What does it look like? I'm baking a cake."

Fakir took a chocolate covered cloth to wipe the dough from his shoe. "Judging by this mess, this must not be the first cake you tried to bake today. I'm going to guess...at least five didn't turn out well."

Ahiru grumbled and turned away. "It doesn't matter how many cakes I fail at as long as I get one done."

"Why are you trying to bake a cake?"

Ahiru placed the bowl on the counter. "Haven't you heard about it?" She reached into her pocket to bring out a flyer. "It's a bake sale. The ballet students are raising money to buy costumes for the upcoming recital."

Fakir fingered the flyer. He had heard about it, but he been too busy researching in the library to care about it. "And you're baking a cake?"

Ahiru nodded.

"Have you ever baked a cake before?"

"No, but Lilie said it was easy."

_So is starting a fire, that doesn't mean you should do it._ Fakir sighed. "If that was the case, you would have been successful five cakes ago." He crossed his arms over his chest. "You should get one of your friends to help you."

Ahiru blushed and pushed the tips of her index fingers together. "Lilie and Pique are busy getting the bake sale ready and I don't want to bother them with this when I can do it myself."

Fakir shook his head. "If you ask me, you're better off assisting them. At least then you won't have to worry about accidently poisoning someone."

Ahiru glared. "I am not going to poison someone! My cake will just be as good as any cake there."

Fakir eyed the bowl filled of messy batter. Was cake batter suppose to be that thick? "I'm just warning you, you shouldn't get your hopes up."

Ahiru turned her back to him. "It will be a good cake, just wait and see. It will be the best one sold."

Fakir sighed as he headed upstairs. _It doesn't matter if her cake sells or not. It doesn't concern me._

The next day, Fakir barely thought about the bake sale. He spent the whole morning in the library and then went into the studio to practice his routine. He briefly wondered how Ahiru was doing as he spun, but choose to not bothered to give it another thought. Yet, when he left the studio his feet ended up strolling near the line of tables were the bake sale had been set up.

Most of the bake goods were gone. Only a few cookies and cupcakes remained. He stared at the table as he walked past, but only looked up when Lilie called him. "Do you want any cupcakes?" He glanced up as she gave him a smile from her chair. Pique sat next to her counting the profits from the day's sales. "We don't have too many left, but they're delicious!" Lilie replied in a far too perky tone, waving a hand.

Fakir shook his head. "I don't care for sweets." He searched the area. "Where's Ahiru?"

Pique sighed. "She's over here." Ahiru sat in a chair behind the table asleep. She snored quietly as she mumbled. "Apparently Ahiru spent all night baking a cake and then cleaning it up before the cooks came in." Pique turned back. "She mentioned you came to see her? Was the mess that bad?"

Fakir sighed. "There are no words that can describe it. So where is her cake?"

Pique grimaced. "It's over there." Fakir turned and choked as he spied Ahiru's masterpiece. He moved towards it for a closer inspection. The cake was uneven and bumpy. It smelled burnt and it was covered in runny blue icing. Fakir calculated the odds. There was a high chance his prediction would come true and it would remain unsold, but he had still been wishing he'd been wrong. "I'm assuming no one has bought the cake."

Lilie bobbed her head with a nod. "Yes! Poor Ahiru worked so hard on it. She'll be depressed and we'll be forced to comfort her and perhaps eat her cake to prove it's not terrible even if it gives us stomach aches!" Lilie squealed. "It's so tragic!"

Fakir sweated uncomfortably and deemed it was safer to stick to talking to Pique. "What are the chances of someone buying that cake now?"

"Slim," Pique replied "Especially since we're supposed to close in five minutes." She sighed. "I do feel bad for her. I thought of buying it myself, but I figured it would be too obvious that I'm doing it out of pity."

Fakir silently looked to the sleeping Ahiru as a bubble popped from her nose. With a heavy sigh, he reached into his pocket. The things a good person was forced to do. "I'll buy the stupid cake."

Pique and Lilie blinked. "You will?" they said in unison.

Fakir raised a finger to his lips. "Yes, but only if you swear not to tell her it was me."

Pique nodded. "Understood, our lips our sealed."

"Are you sure?" Lilie asked. "We won't have a nice drama if you buy it."

"And who would want that?" Fakir asked with a twitch as Pique tied a big red bow to the cake box and handed it to him. Fakir took one last glance at the sleeping Ahiru then turned on his heel and left. Perhaps the cake would not be so bad.

Later, after daring himself to have one slice, he threw out the cake. To be fair, it was not a terrible cake. He had tasted worse food in his life. With that said, there was no way he could stomach another slice. The cake was far too hard and chewy. It reminded him of taffy.

As he finished washing his cake plate, there was a knock at the door. "Fakir? Are you in?"

Fakir recognized the voice immediately. "Just a minute!" He quickly glanced around to be sure the garbage can lid was closed and all evidence of the cake was erased. Once it had been confirmed safe, Fakir opened the door.

Ahiru was grinning like a manic. "You were wrong!"

Fakir blinked at the finger pointed at his nose. "About what?"

"My cake got sold! Lilie and Pique told me they got good money for it."

Fakir kept his bored expression. "Is that the only reason you came here? To tell me someone bought a cake?"

Ahiru frowned. "Of course, after all you said I couldn't bake a cake. This proves that I am a baker."

Fakir gave a small smile. Yes, it was not the complete truth, but he would rather see Ahiru happy then upset about how she couldn't bake.

"In fact," Ahiru replied with an energetic grin. "Your birthday is coming up right Fakir?"

The warm feeling inside changed to cold fear. "How do you know that?"

"Raquel told me and I'm going to bake your birthday cake so you can be the one to taste it next time."

"There's no need!" Fakir argued quickly, as sweat formed and dripped..

"Yes there is!" Ahiru agreed. "Now that I know I can bake, I just have to prove to you that I can." She began to head down the street. "I'll get in a lot of practice and it's going to be a delicious cake! Just wait and see!"

Fakir waited until Ahiru was out of sight before he let out a huge groan. The prices one must pay to keep a friend happy. He closed the door, turned and shut his eyes. Oh well, perhaps the next cake he ate wouldn't be as chewy.


End file.
